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Tarselli, now 39, is now appealing that sentence under a year-old ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Miller vs. Alabama case declaring mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles unconstitutional.

The high court reasoned that a judge should take certain psychological factors, such as maturity, into consideration when sentencing a youth offender and a life sentence cannot be mandatory.

In response to the ruling, the legislature changed state law to require juveniles convicted to first-degree murder to serve a minimum of 35 years to life for those ages 15 to 17, and 25 to life for ages 14 and under. For second-degree murder, the sentences are 30 years to life for ages 15 to 17, and 20 years to life for ages 14 and under.

Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said the ruling opened the door for older prisoners to appeal, based on the argument that a youth's brain is not fully developed until age 24.

"We've had a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old file an appeal," she said.

Both Tarselli and another convicted killer Wilson Hernandez, who with another man beat Andrew Danko to death in his Hazleton Heights home in 1994, were 18 at the time of their crimes.

Tarselli walked into the restaurant where Bunchalk was the night manager with a sawed-off shotgun and fired repeatedly. Bunchalk died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Tarselli then took a money bag with about $922.

Decisions on the appeal await the outcome in another case, Commonwealth vs. Cunningham, which is before the state Supreme Court which will decide whether the federal decision can be applied retroactively.

If granted appeals, the former juvenile offenders will be given new sentencing hearings, at which a judge can still sentence them to life in prison, as the high court's decision only prohibited mandatory life sentences.

Tarselli, who is serving his life sentence at State Correctional Institute-Green in Waynesboro, Franklin County, filed the appeal without an attorney and is representing himself, Salavantis said.

kmonitz@standardspeaker.com, 570-455-3636

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